Community Commitment

Matt McReynolds, a Senior Manager at Mantyla McReynolds, LLC, serves as the treasurer for The Friends For Unified Police K9 (“Friends”), a non-profit charitable organization.

Friends’ purpose is to support the local Unified Police K9 Unit by providing increased tools and resources that further enable the K9 Unit to carry out its roles in protecting our community and in fighting crime.

Friends’ mission includes the following important activities:
1. Friends provides specialized training for the canine handlers and canines.
2. Friends provides protective equipment for the canine handlers and canines.
3. Friends assists with purchasing canines for the K9 Unit when they do not have enough canines for the handlers.

Mantyla McReynolds is honored to work with Friends as a result of the positive impact that the organization has on our community. Mantyla McReynolds provides pro bono services to Friends including tax preparation, accounting, and management accounting reports. Mantyla McReynolds is also a donor of funds to help support Friends and we are confident that the organization will continue to be successful under the leadership of its President, Sgt. Randy Thomas.

Check the Status of Your Refund - IRS2Go app

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today reminded taxpayers to use new mobile phone applications launched this filing season to check the status of their refunds and to get other tax information on the go.

To date, there have been more than 250,000 downloads of the IRS2Go app.

In late January, the IRS unveiled IRS2Go, its first smartphone application that lets taxpayers check on the status of their tax refund and obtain helpful tax information. The IRS2Go phone app gives people a convenient way of checking on their federal refund. It also gives people a quick way of obtaining easy-to-understand tax tips. Apple users can download the free IRS2Go application by visiting the Apple App Store. Android users can visit the Android Marketplace to download the free IRS2Go app. The mobile app, among a handful in the federal government, offers a number of safe and secure ways to help taxpayers.
Get Your Refund Status
Taxpayers can check the status of their federal refund through the new phone app with a few basic pieces of information. First, taxpayers enter their Social Security number, which is masked and encrypted for security purposes. Next, taxpayers pick the filing status they used on their tax return. Finally, taxpayers enter the amount of the refund they expect from their 2010 tax return. For people who e-file, the refund function of the phone app will work within about 72 hours after taxpayers receive an e-mail acknowledgement saying the IRS received their tax return. For people filing paper tax returns, longer processing times mean they will need to wait three to four weeks before they can check their refund status. About 70 percent of the 142 million individual tax returns filed were filed electronically last year, and that percentage is expected to rise this year.
Get Tax Updates
Phone app users enter their e-mail address to automatically get daily tax tips. Tax Tips are simple, straightforward tips and reminders to help with tax planning and preparation. Tax Tips are issued daily during the tax filing season and periodically during the rest of the year. The plain English updates cover topics such as free tax help, child tax credits, the Earned Income Tax Credit, education credits and other topics.
Follow the IRS
Taxpayers can sign up to follow the IRS Twitter news feed, @IRSnews. IRSnews provides the latest federal tax news and information for taxpayers. The IRSnews tweets provide easy-to-use information, including tax law changes and important IRS programs. IRS2Go is the latest IRS effort to provide information to taxpayers beyond traditional channels. The IRS also uses tools such as YouTube and Twitter to share the latest information on tax changes, initiatives, products and services through social media channels. For more information on IRS2Go and other new media products, visit http://www.irs.gov/.

Do You Need an Extension?

Can't make the April 18 tax filing deadline and need more time to file your tax return? You can get an automatic six month extension of time to file from the IRS. Here are important things you need to know about filing an extension:

1. File on time even if you can't pay. If your return is completed but you are unable to pay the full amount of tax due, do not request an extension. File your return on time and pay as much as you can. The IRS will send you a bill or notice for the balance due. To apply online for a payment agreement, go to the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/ and click "Apply for an Online Payment Agreement (OPA)" at the left side of the home page under Online Services. If you are unable to make payments, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to discuss your options.




2. Extra time to file. An extention will give you extra time to get your paperwork to the IRS, but it does not extend the time you have to pay any tax due. You will owe interest on any amount not paid by the April 18 deadline, plus you may owe penalties.

Please contact us if you need to file an extension.

8 Changes to Know About Before Filing Your 2010 Taxes

Despite calls for simplifing the tax laws, they have actually become more complicated in the last few years. We want you to be aware of the new tax breaks for this filing season so you can take full advantage of them. Please call Mantyla McReynolds for more details.

1. Roth IRA conversions - You may now convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, regardless of the amount of your income. In 2010, income from the conversion can be deferred so half is taxable in 2011 and the other half in 2012.



2. Small business health insurance credit - If you pay for your employee health insurance, you may qualify for a credit of up to 35% of premiums you pay depending on the number of employees and wages you pay.



3. Homebuyer credit - You may qualify for a first time homebuyer credit if you purchased a home by July 31, 2010.



4. Adoption credit - The max credit is $13,170 per eligible child and is refundable (you get it even if your tax is zero).



5. Gifts to charity - You may donate $100,000 directly from your IRA. A donation in January 2011 can be treated as made in 2010.



6. Section 179 expensing - You may expense up to $500,000 of qualified fixed asset purchases made in 2010.



7. Bonus depreciation - You may expense from 50% to 100% of never before used qualifying fixed asset purchases made in 2010.



8. Luxury auto limits - You may deduct up to $11,000 for luxury auto and light truck or van purchases in 2010. You can deduct up to $25,000 for purchases of SUV's in 2010.

Also, don't forget that the filing deadline is Monday, April 18th. Why?

IRS to Examine Rental Losses More Closely

IRS to Examine Rental Losses More Closely

WASHINGTON, D.C. (MARCH 9, 2011) BY MICHAEL COHN The Internal Revenue Service has agreed with recommendations in a newly released government report urging the agency to increase its examinations of individual tax returns that report losses from rental real estate activity. The report, by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, was conducted because a Government Accountability Office report in August 2008 found that at least 53 percent of individual taxpayers with rental real estate activity for tax year 2001 misreported their rental real estate activity, resulting in an estimated $12.4 billion of net misreported income. The objectives of TIGTA’s review were to evaluate the IRS’s scrutiny of individual tax returns with rental real estate activity and to recommend changes to help identify, select and examine tax returns with rental real estate activity. TIGTA found that during fiscal years 2008 and 2009, the IRS’s rental real estate Compliance Initiative Program examined only a small percentage of the 318,339 examinations conducted by revenue agents and tax compliance officers. TIGTA projected that if the IRS were to increase the percentage of rental real estate CIP tax returns it examined, it could increase potential tax assessments by $27.3 million over a five-year period. “Given the magnitude of underreporting in our voluntary system of tax compliance, even small improvements in the IRS’s examination of tax returns with rental real estate activity could increase taxpayer compliance and generate substantial additional revenue to the federal government, helping reduce the tax gap,” said TIGTA Inspector General J. Russell George in a statement. IRS management agreed with all of TIGTA’s recommendations, disagreeing only with the report’s proposed monetary outcome measures. In its report, TIGTA recommended that IRS officials conduct an analysis to determine the population of tax returns with rental real estate activity that meets the criteria for inclusion in the CIPs. The IRS should also revise the instructions for Form 8582 to require all taxpayers with prior-year unallowed passive activity losses to submit the form with their tax return. The report also recommended that the IRS ensure that the information taxpayers provide to report the net amount of income earned or losses incurred from being a real estate professional is transcribed. IRS management agreed with all three recommendations. The IRS, in connection with the development of compliance strategies, plans to consider whether additional CIP examinations are appropriate. In addition, the IRS plans to revise the 2011 instructions for Form 8582 and transcribe the information taxpayers provide to report the net amount of income earned, or losses incurred, from being a real estate professional. “We will ensure the information taxpayers provide to report the net amount of income earned, or losses incurred, from being a real estate professional is transcribed,” wrote Christopher Wagner, the commissioner of the IRS’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division. “These changes will assist in selection of the most high-risk returns for audit.” However, the IRS disagreed with the proposed monetary outcome measures. “Since the dollars per hour figures were calculated based on actual examinations that were ranked and selected for examination based on their potential yield, the characteristics of these cases are not necessarily an accurate representation of the entire remaining population,” Wagner wrote. “Therefore, because the results of the cases examined do not necessarily represent results from cases not selected, projecting differences in revenues across unexamined cases does not produce accurate revenue estimations.” TIGTA said it computed the outcomes conservatively using historical data from the examination program. TIGTA officials maintained that the potential $27.3 million of increased revenue over a five-year period is reasonable considering the assumptions used to calculate the estimate.